Death Lurks Under Floorboards of House in Hyogo

Japan’s annals of serial killers is a thin collection, but it may have a new entry after the gruesome discovery of three bodies hidden beneath a house in western Japan this week. And the police aren’t done digging.

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A policeman stands guard outside a crime scene where three bodies were found under the floor of a house in the city of Amagasaki, Hyogo prefecture on Oct. 16.

The police are looking into the role that a 64-year-old female resident may have played in the deaths of the three bodies found under the house in Amagasaki, a city bordering the major manufacturing hub of Osaka. Police are also investigating whether the woman could be involved in more cases as several of her family members and acquaintances have suddenly disappeared over the years.

The woman has already been indicted for her alleged role in an assault that led to the death of another person last year. The 66-year-old victim’s body was uncovered in November–trapped in a disturbing makeshift metal drum casket full of concrete. The suspect has yet to be charged with any offenses related to the bodies found this week.

The skeletons under the floorboards are a chilling find for a nation where violent crimes are rare and murder even more so. The homicide rate in Japan was 0.9% in 2009, compared with 2.6% in France and 5% in the U.S., according to a 2011 Ministry of Justice white paper.

A tip-off from people close to the suspect led the police to search the house in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture this week. The police were told the wider body count includes at least one body stuffed into a metal drum and thrown out to sea, according to Japan’s largest daily, The Yomiuri Shimbun.

The Hyogo police said they found two naked bodies in the Amagasaki house on Sunday and pulled out a third the next day. The corpses were so badly decomposed that authorities were unable to immediately identify the gender or age of any of the victims. One was determined on Friday to be a 71-year-old woman named Ando Mitsune.

The remaining John Doe was identified as Takashi Tanimoto, according to a Hyogo police spokesman. Mr. Tanimoto, from Kagawa Prefecture, was the uncle of the suspect’s daughter-in-law. Citing anonymous police sources, local media reports have suggested the last unidentified body is the daughter-in-law’s older sister. Both have been missing for about 10 years. Local media reported that the two disappeared after the suspect repeatedly quarreled with the young woman over money in Kagawa Prefecture. The Hyogo police declined to comment on the news reports.